Psych Your Mind: Cleanliness is next to...

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A couple of years ago, my significant
other and I were making our initial “introductory
rounds” (meeting each other’s families
for the first time) and decided, while we
were in the neighbourhood, to drop in on
one of his couple-friends. While the pair was
(and is) lovely and we got along just swimmingly,
there’s no lighter way to phrase it: I
was appalled by the state in which they kept
their living quarters.

In their defence, I will say they were not
expecting our company. However, I could
not then and still cannot now understand
how anyone could possibly tolerate living
with clearly visible dirt and debris. The icing
on the cake was the fact that their house had
seen such neglect from upkeep that one of
their children’s pets – a goldfish – was floating
belly-side up in a fish bowl, apparently
unbeknownst to them.

After this incident, it came to my attention
just how UNcommon this situation among
our demographic is. The more I got invited
over to my own friends’ houses, the more I
realized that tidiness does not seem to be a
universally embraced ideal.

At the risk of sounding like a germaphobe,
admittedly I was and continue to be
shocked by this notion given that I’m
frankly embarrassed to invite over company
if my home has not been cleaned the week
of. Furthermore, if my mom, for instance, is
coming to town, I will clean every inch of
my apartment so thoroughly that it’d be fit
for the arrival of the Queen herself and
should she so choose, she could eat off the
floors without any fear of adverse physical
reaction!

Aside from the obvious health benefits to
living in a dust-bunny-free environment,
how one maintains or fails to maintain one’s
personal habitat will affect how others view
your character, and even your sense of
morality! Did you know, for example, that
the original Oxford English Dictionary definition
of the term “slut” was “a slovenly,
untidy woman or girl”?

According to environmental psychologist
Sally Augustin, throughout our evolutionary
history, cleanliness was considered a valued
trait given that a home free of clutter would
make it easier to spot potential predator
attacks. While this benefit may no longer be
applicable in modern society, it does have an
unconscious psychological holdover: when
one enters a messy living space – whether
it’s their own or one is a visitor – it results in
enhanced stress levels.

A lack of upkeep in regard to one’s physicality
and/or the physical spaces he/she
occupies too has been linked to the mood
disorder depression. Among other symptoms,
depression has been known to have a
debilitating effect on many of one’s motivations.
With this in mind, it’s unsurprising
that counsellors often recommend “cleaning
house” as a means of elevating one’s mood.
After all, the messier one’s house gets, the
more it adds to one’s guilt and merely continues
the cycle of “not-good-enough-ness.”

As counsellor Jennifer B. Baxt explains,
“taking the time to clean the home from top
to bottom is like cleaning (out) one’s life.
The dirt, dust and clutter are done away with
and the house has a fresher, more comfortable
atmosphere that the person can feel
happier and more relaxed in.”

To this, Yahoo! contributor Ayanna
Guyhto adds that it’s the whole concept of
“idle hands, idle mind”: “by remaining
sedentary, it gives your brain too much time
to focus on the things that are bothering you.
By getting up and focusing your attention on
household tasks, you give yourself a mental
diversion.”

Let’s just stop there for a second to make
one point very clear: it’s highly unreasonable
to suggest (and by no means am I suggesting!)
that EVERY individual who seemingly
is not too concerned with the condition
of their home is suffering from the “Big D.”
Clearly there must be something else here at
play. Wouldn’t you know it? Psychology
again proves illustrative.

Believe it or not laziness is a modern
“invention,” largely due to the comforts (and
excesses!) of Western industrialized living.
Despite our incessant complaints and excuses
that would suggest otherwise, apparently
we DO have too much time on our hands
and this, in effect results in the appearance
of laziness’ twin brother: procrastination.

As evolutionary psychologist Nando
Pelusi points out, it wasn’t until we no
longer had to worry about constantly fending
off predators, protecting our kin or surviving
off of scarce resources that we had
the “luxury” of dreaming of future actions.
In the past, we held our energy in reserve
because we never knew when an immediate
threat may be looming. Nowadays, all that
energy has the ability to build up, tricking us
into believing (at least on an unconscious
level) that there will always be more time to
“get around to things.” Given the multitude
of distractions available to occupy our time
– the Facebooks, Twitters, and YouTubes of
the world, for starters – it isn’t hard to see
why so many of us have lost sight of how to
properly “prioritize”… but more on that in
another issue.

The point I’m trying to get at is quite simply:
while “cleanliness” may not necessarily
be next to “godliness,” it certainly is linked
to “goodliness”… on many levels. In other
words, my “neat-freakness” is indicative of
the fact that I take great pride in appearances,
value the idea of hospitality, see my
home as a reflection of my own work ethic,
and perhaps most importantly that I am
within a balanced mental state. So I ask you
all to ask yourselves, “What does YOUR
home say about YOU?” Is it time for yet
more introspection? Methinks so.

Interrobang

The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd in London, Ontario and distributed throughout the Fanshawe College community.